World Design Policy Conference, one of the Signature Events of Valencia World Design Capital 2022 and the World Design Organization®, was celebrated with huge success on the 3rd and 4th of November at the Palacio de Congresos de Valencia.

Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk, the hosts and producers of the Uncertain Things podcast, interview people from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of expertise to ask the question: “now what? What is happening and how did we get here?”. In this episode, they talk with urbanist, architect, and professor Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, to seek to understand how the cities got so expensive. Together they delve into the affordability crisis, the detrimental effect of progress, and what we need to do to have better cities.

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Videos

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group supports APM Terminals and Maersk in reimagining the shipping industry's future with a master plan for the Aqaba Port Terminal in Jordan, expected by 2040. Considered one of the most strategic ports in the country and an important gateway to the Levant region, the 3 square kilometers plan will merge different strategic approaches at the regional scale, starting from the terminal refurbishment, expansion of the logistics functions, and connecting to the broader port's community and natural environment.

The master plan for Aqaba Port aligns with the global net zero goal for 2030, to which BIG has actively contributed with projects such as the CapitaSpring Tower in Singapore with Carlo Ratti Associati and the recently announced 3d-printed community in Texas, co-designed with ICON.

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EUROPARC, a pan-European design collective, has been announced as the winners of the international competition to renew the Paul Henri SPAAK Building in Brussels, Belgium. The building housing the Parliament of the European Union has many shortcomings, yet the winners of the competition recognize that demolishing and replacing it might not be a responsible or sustainable solution. The existing building is, therefore, reimagined and adapted better to fit the needs and the identity of the EU. EUROPARC is made up of five architectural studios from five European countries: JDS Architects (DK/BE), Coldefy (FR), CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati (IT), NL Architects (NL), and Ensamble Studio (SP), with the support of engineering companies from UTIL (BE) and Ramboll (DK).

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Danish design studio CEBRA won the planning competition to develop the business district at Hannemanns Allé, in Ørestad Syd, Copenhagen, Denmark. With a project emphasizing urban quality, urban life, and area identity, the 150,000 square meters plan will define the framework for future design and completion of the area between the Royal Arena and the Øresund motorway. Expected for completion in 2024, the project is commissioned by Copenhagen Municipality and By&Havn, an organization tasked with developing Ørestad and the city's port.

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The inaugural MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission opened on the 6th of October, 2022, unveiling a large-scale installation by Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, who explores the concept of clothing as a symbol of protection and the associated practices of domestic labor, gender, and community. The MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission is an annual series that invites an international female designer or architect to create a significant new space for the NGV Collection. As the first and only initiative of its kind in Australia, the Commission will create a platform for the presentation of world-premiere topical works that amplify the contribution of women designers and architects.

Milan-based architecture studio Peter Pichler has designed an eco-resort to develop a new concept of hospitality in the European Alpine region. Dubbed the YOUNA Nature Resorts, the complex follows the mountain’s silhouette to offer a maximized relaxation experience. The A-shape typology allows wide opens the front facade to connect with nature while reaching high-private interiors under the same roof. The resort is the last of the studio’s series of projects in the Italian rural area, including a hotel in Maranza and a prototype of a treehouse in the forest of the Dolomites.

A Foster + Partners and Buro Happold consortium has been announced as the winners of the competition to design the new CPK airport, situated between Warsaw and Łódź, in Poland. The project is envisioned as a 21st-century transport interchange, bringing together air, rail, and road. The design seeks to strike a balance between operational efficiency, environmental responsibility, and a symbolic expression that reflects the country’s national identity. Initially, the airport will serve up to 40 million passengers but is planned to easily expand to meet the 65 million passengers target in 2060.

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The Swedish architecture firm Tham & Videgård exhibits a broad selection of projects celebrating over twenty years in practice at the ArkDes—Centre for Architecture and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. For the first time, the studio’s work is being presented in its entirety, displaying in detail acclaimed buildings like the winning proposal for the Denfert art center in Paris and the 150-meter-tall +One Tower for the Swedish Exhibition in Gothenburg. From November 2022 to August 27, 2023, On: Architecture offers visitors a full-scale spatial experience involving models, new photography, and films – all set within a glass ground showroom.

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Stefano Boeri Architetti, together with a multidisciplinary team including ARUP, Fabio Novembre, and Balich Wonder Studio, has unveiled the design for the new Milan Stadium, named the International Forest Stadium. The project, located in the San Siro area of the city, was presented to the public on the occasion of the competition announced in 2019 by the Inter and Milan teams. The stadium is envisioned as an integral part of the “Sport and leisure district” system, an extensive masterplan measuring over 800 hectares, planned to transform the San Siro district into a center for excellence in the context of European sports.

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Emerging Ukrainian architecture firm NOVA - New Office of Vital Architecture- designed the new Mariupol City Hall as a proposal to reconstruct the city, almost devastated during the current war in Ukraine. The project seeks to open the discussion on urban democracy and civic life through architecture by replacing traditional hierarchical schemes with an open and accessible government building.

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One of the most significant cultural events in the Middle East, Dubai Design Week represents a platform that offers individuals and companies the opportunity to showcase their design experience and to open conversations about the most pressing issues of our times. Developed in a strategic partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), the event presents a series of immersive, large-scale installations that highlight the festival’s theme: Design with Impact.

This year’s program is focused on designing a sustainable future. To promote this, Dubai Design Week has invited international and regional architects and designers to create installations that demonstrate creative design thinking, to introduce innovative materials, and spark conversations about the ways in which design can have a positive impact on the environment.

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Pioneer in large-scale 3D printing, ICON announced the construction of a 3D-printed 100-Home Community co-designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and developed by Lennar. Located north of Austin, in the city of Georgetown, "The Genesis Collection at Wolf Ranch" will become the first and largest house estate in the world built by a fleet of robots integrating additive construction techniques.

Combining the digital possibilities of 3d printing with sustainable features at an affordable price, the project aims to support the housing crisis in Austin, one of the U.S.A's most dynamic and growing cities, home to the new Tesla Gigafactory and other giants such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle.

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The tenth edition of the Architectural Photography Awards has announced its shortlist, selected from entries from 64 different countries. The photographs are divided into six categories: Exterior, Interior, Sense of Place, Buildings in Use, Mobile, with Bridges being this year’s theme, and Portfolio, focusing on the theme of Transport Hubs. The photographs will be displayed at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Lisbon in Portugal from 30th November - 2nd December. The winners, two per category, will be announced by the end of the festival.

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Stefano Boeri Architetti presented a new design for the Vertical Forest towers during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The prototype would be in Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the next host of COP28 in 2023. The ambitious project would represent the first Vertical Forest prototype for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa), and it is the latest in an extended list of greenery-covered buildings by Boeri Architetti, including the Bosco Verticale in Milan, the Easyhome Huanggang in China, and a prototype of the First Dutch Vertical Forest.

In a presentation at the Buildings Pavilion Auditorium during COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) presented the Urban Sequoia NOW concept. The proposal, developed by an interdisciplinary team at SOM, represents a design that can sequester carbon from the atmosphere throughout its lifecycle. The design can be implemented with today’s technologies. This represents SOM’s concept of going beyond net zero carbon by combining multiple strategies: reducing embodied carbon, generating energy, absorbing carbon, and increasing the typical 60-year lifespan of the building.

Videos

The Danish architectural practice 3XN won the 10th International High-Rise Award for the office tower Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia, the world's most innovative high-rise in 2022/23. From over 1000 high-rises completed in the last two years, the Quay Quarter Tower was selected because it implemented innovative solutions in a time of increased ecological challenges by integrating a large proportion of the existing 1970s high-rise structure into the new building.

The architects Kim Herforth Nielsen (Founder and Creative Director of 3XN) and Fred Holt (3XN Partner and Australian Studio Director) will receive the prize at the IHA 10th edition ceremony in Frankfurt's Paulskirche, joining the laureates' list that includes the Norra Tornen by OMA (2020), Torre Reforma by LBR&A Arquitectos (2018), 57 West by BIG (2016), and Torre Agbar by Ateliers Jean Nouvel (2006).

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BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has released a photo series of the Vancouver House and the Telus Sky towers, captured for the first time since their opening in 2020 during the pandemic. In a sort of "yin and yang," both skyscrapers are shaped by a curvilinear silhouette that involves the surrounding like a giant curtain revealing the building to the skyline.

The 220-meter-tall Telus Sky tower, and the 149 meters high Vancouver House, accommodate mixed-use offices and residential spaces, with connections to cycling and pedestrian pathways in their platforms. Moreover, both hold the highest level of Energy and Environmental Design. Vancouver House is the city's first LEED Platinum building, and TELUS in Calgary now occupies the largest LEED Platinum footprint in North America, with 70,725 square meters.

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The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has selected Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Selldorf Architects to jointly develop the modernization plan for the Hirshhorn Museum’s interior and plaza. As the first renovation in the last fifty years, the museum plans to upgrade its galleries and public spaces in order to fit the contemporary requirements of a public museum of modern art. It also represents a response to the increased attendance during the past five years. The federal contract was awarded following a competitive process by Smithsonian Facilities in consultation with the Hirshhorn. The concept design, to be submitted in 2023, will be subject to a public consultation process.

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New York-based firm Marvel revealed schematic designs for The Bronx Museum's new multi-story entrance and lobby, as part of the museum's revamp for its 50th anniversary. With a budget of USD $26 million and slated for completion in 2025, the renovation will relocate the access on the Grand Concourse Street, one of the most iconic The Bronx boulevards, and focus on the cohesion of the multiple sections for a fully accessible route through all of the galleries. Coinciding with this announcement, the Museum reinvented its brand identity and website for the first time in over two decades to reflect its ethos as a vital space at the intersection of art and social justice in New York City.

On the 4th of October, the temporary installation "Mass is More", a project designed by Daniel Ibáñez and Vicente Guallart, from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), together with Alan Organschi from Bauhaus Earth (BE), was presented at the Barcelona Pavilion. It was open to the general public from the 1st to the 9th of October.

URB has unveiled plans to develop Africa's most sustainable city, a development that can host 150,000 residents. Known as The Parks, the city plans to produce 100% of its energy, water & food on-site through biodomes, solar-powered air-to-water generators, and biogas production. The 1,700-hectare project will feature residential, medical, ecotourism, and educational hubs to become one of the significant contributors to the growing green and tech economy in South Africa.